MADISON, Wis. — The Madison Police Department knows perception often can be reality. If that’s the case, officials admit the results of a cityside survey show the department has a lot to work on to improve police/community relations.
By the numbers, 721 people took the survey, responding by mail and online. It was managed by Matrix Consulting Group, Inc.
Of the respondents, 61% feel crime is getting worse in the city.
Shots fired incidents, car thefts, burglaries — all were down in Madison through the first three months of 2022, according to the Chief of Police’s quarterly report. 73% of people in Madison feel “very safe” alone in their own neighborhoods.
“The community is concerned about gun violence, they’re concerned about car thefts, they’re concerned about homelessness and burglaries. Those were the top issues,” said Capt. Matt Tye.
Tye, MPD’s captain of community outreach, said that’s why the survey is so important to police and their current strategic plan.
He knows recent spikes in crime are alarming but fears many people in Madison don’t know about recent pushes by police to be more visible, too.
“Fewer people than I would’ve thought maybe are aware of what we’re doing to make outreach in the community,” he said.
Roughly 65% of residents knew about one or more community programs – most familiar with the Madison Area Crime Stoppers. Only 5% of survey-takers were aware of youth academies and 9% knew about MPD Pride.
Only 45% of the residents surveyed “strongly agreed” or “somewhat agreed” that the Madison Police Department makes it easy for the community to provide input.
“When residents are aware of community engagement, they have a better, greater feelings of trust towards the police department,” Tye said.
It’s the trust of communities of color that Tye felt the survey also shows MPD still needs to work on.
Only half of non-white people surveyed feel the police are doing their jobs well. That compared to nearly 75% of white people.
“There’s a lot of good reasons for that distrust and it didn’t happen overnight,” Tye said. “It’s not going to get solved overnight.”
So, what does the department plan to do with this data?
Focus groups are in the works centered on community policing, youth engagement, communication, and internal police culture to make sure “the report just doesn’t sit on a shelf and nothing is accomplished,” Tye said.
“I can’t overemphasize it: it’s really key that the workgroups are a combination of Madison employees and community members trying to work collaboratively to figure out what it is we want the police department to be doing,” he said.
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